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Twiin posted:Notebook advice! I've read the last ten or fifteen pages of the thread, but a lot of the discussions seem pretty gaming-heavy. If color fidelity is important, that limits your choices to an HP Elitebook with an IPS-panel screen (or a gaming notebook from xoticpc.com with that panel as a custom configuration option), which will be the most accurate, or a Dell XPS with an RGDLED screen, which is a bit less accurate but has a super-wide gamut. A Macbook Pro has about the same gamut as a low-end TN desktop monitor, but with better contrast and viewing angles. Most other laptops go down from there. Re: CPU, you might want to consider an i7 anyway - the QM models are quad-core processors and have an incredible amount of oomph for content creation on par with top-end desktop parts, and there are no quad-core i5s for laptops. But you can probably get by with less if you aren't too effects heavy with your sound work, or find an AMD-based laptop which will give you more cores with less oomph each if multithreaded performance is more important than single-thread. FireWire isn't particularly something to worry about. It's on some laptops, but if it's not on one you're particularly in to, as long as it has an ExpressCard slot, you can add a FireWire expansion card. As for "gaming-capable", as long as you get current generation stuff (i.e. the Radeon graphics are 5000 or 6000-series, nVidia graphics are 400 or 500 series, or the Intel HD graphics are attached to a 2nd-generation Core processor), old games will be perfectly accessible, and even new games will play at lowered details and/or resolutions. So don't worry too much about that, either. Hopefully this helps you target your search a little better.
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| # ? Apr 19, 2011 22:52 |
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| # ? May 21, 2013 08:49 |
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Twiin posted:Notebook advice! I've read the last ten or fifteen pages of the thread, but a lot of the discussions seem pretty gaming-heavy. Nab a Sager N5170.
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| # ? Apr 19, 2011 22:55 |
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Thanks, this is all really helpful. I'll have access to an IPS screen for fine tuning where colour fidelity is crucial, so it's not make-or-break for the notebook. Resolution is really important, though. I'll check these suggestions out!
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| # ? Apr 19, 2011 23:20 |
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Twiin posted:Thanks, this is all really helpful. I'll have access to an IPS screen for fine tuning where colour fidelity is crucial, so it's not make-or-break for the notebook. Resolution is really important, though. What about a MBP isn't the notebook you need? The Lenovo W series might be another to look at. They supposedly have very nice screens with 1920x1080 resolution.
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| # ? Apr 20, 2011 00:58 |
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Twiin posted:Notebook advice! I've read the last ten or fifteen pages of the thread, but a lot of the discussions seem pretty gaming-heavy. XPS 15 or 17 both can be configured with a 1920x1080, which is apparently pretty sweet. The graphics are decent but not great. Also, I'd recommend an i7, because in the laptop world the i7s are quad core, and I think you'd benefit from that. You can get a pretty wicked speced XPS 15 for $1400. E: Whoops, new page. The Sager 5160 or 5170 (15" or 17" respectively) can be configured pretty identically to the XPS machines for around the same price.
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| # ? Apr 20, 2011 02:05 |
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smallmouth posted:What about a MBP isn't the notebook you need? Mostly the price. A MPB and a Dell XPS configured with the same specs are $2,499 and $1,464 respectively.
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| # ? Apr 20, 2011 09:35 |
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Twiin posted:Mostly the price. A MPB and a Dell XPS configured with the same specs are $2,499 and $1,464 respectively. I just configured myself an identical Thinkpad 420S and 15" Macbook Pro and the Macbook is extra $600? The one damned thing that pisses me off these days is, it's 2011 and our integrated graphic solutions suck. I need a $1,000+ laptop just to run Starcraft 2 at low details? That's just obscene, stop failing Intel.
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| # ? Apr 20, 2011 09:52 |
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Tab8715 posted:I just configured myself an identical Thinkpad 420S and 15" Macbook Pro and the Macbook is extra $600? I did an MBP 17" and an XPS 17. Scales based on screen size, I guess. I like Apple hardware fine, it's just not worth an extra $1K (or $600) to me. Maybe a hundred bucks. (Not slagging on Apple or anything, just explaining why an MBP isn't what I want.)
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| # ? Apr 20, 2011 09:59 |
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Twiin posted:I did an MBP 17" and an XPS 17. Scales based on screen size, I guess. I like Apple hardware fine, it's just not worth an extra $1K (or $600) to me. Maybe a hundred bucks. (Not slagging on Apple or anything, just explaining why an MBP isn't what I want.) Not to mention, a simple upgrade on Apple hardware is obscene. Why couldn't Lenovo have thrown in a GT540? That would have been perfect. 
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| # ? Apr 20, 2011 10:08 |
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Just placed my order on a new x220. Lenovo fixed their website today.quote:INTEL CORE I3-2310M PROC Got the IPS screen and 15 cells worth of battery power. I got the laptop specifically for the long battery run-time. CPU power isn't as important for what I need it for. It will be interesting to test the battery life. I'll post up a mini-review. Might look into upgrading the hdd in the future to a 64gb SSD.
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| # ? Apr 20, 2011 14:26 |
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SO my mom's 4 year old HP DV6000 has just about kicked the bucket. It's her birthday and I was thinking about buying her a new one as a gift. there's a microcenter local to me and they have a deal on a dell inspiron M5030, not the most current machine, but it's under $300. http://www.microcenter.com/single_p...duct_id=0355168 The current laptop is pretty much a permanent kitchen fixture, and only leaves the house on vacations etc. so portability & battery life aren't the biggest concerns. It's mostly used for web browsing, word, random youtube crap, downloading ebooks, and the occasional movie. How is the durability of these things?
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| # ? Apr 20, 2011 17:34 |
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I just want to mention to this thread that there's some group trying to get a group discount for x220s (and maybe even other lenovos) over on reddit and the notebook review forums. I just emailed the guy and haven't gotten a reply (and obviously buyer beware and all that) but they're supposed to get a discount better than even the standard student/military discount lenovo gives. EDIT: Got an email back, it's only for the x220. EDIT2: deal fell through, basically just contact a rep for an addition 10% on discount. pinegala fucked around with this message at Apr 20, 2011 around 21:33 |
| # ? Apr 20, 2011 18:25 |
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umop apisdn posted:SO my mom's 4 year old HP DV6000 has just about kicked the bucket. It's her birthday and I was thinking about buying her a new one as a gift. there's a microcenter local to me and they have a deal on a dell inspiron M5030, not the most current machine, but it's under $300. Dell consumer stuff, especially the lower end, tends to be very plastic. If you get rid of most of the crapware inside that, should be somewhat ok. I wouldn't bet on it lasting very long, but, hey, it's under $300.
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| # ? Apr 20, 2011 18:42 |
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DarkestLite posted:The only other disappointment I had was Rift. I love this game and will continue to play it on the laptop, but it's kind of odd. Medium, High, and Ultra settings give me 30-35 FPS. Let me reiterate. Medium -and- Ultra give the same FPS. I don't know if it's something I did wrong or just bad optimization or it hates the laptop. I've read people running it at 60+ on Ultra, so I assume it just hates the laptop. Rift fix: Check the fallout new vegas fixes maybe? (same engine)
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| # ? Apr 20, 2011 23:57 |
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DanTheFryingPan posted:Dell consumer stuff, especially the lower end, tends to be very plastic. To expand on this, the paint will come off and the screen hinges will break and the whole drat machine will always be 'flexy'.
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| # ? Apr 21, 2011 18:17 |
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Hope I'm posting this in the right place. I have an old Thinkpad T43 laptop with VGA/DVI output, and want to connect it to my TV that only accepts HDMI. I can use my Macbook Pro's HDMI out, but I need the parallel port on the ThinkPad. (Like a doof I forgot my TV doesn't have a VGA connector) I am completely confused about if this is possible or not. Most say VGA->HDMI is not possible without significant image degradation, yet I see this stupid looking USB2->HDMI box - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...GHEPD22RZ80NG3F Seriously, HDMI via USB2? Sounds suspicious. It seems I can get a DVI->HDMI converter, but then I get no audio signal! It sounds like a giant pain either way, but my only other alternative is to figure out a way to get a parallel port working on my Macbook Pro. The only decent looking parallel port adapter I've seen costs $150, so not crazy about that either. (Plus, I never use the old ThinkPad, so I can leave it hooked up to the TV 24/7) For those curious, I'm running the software OpenITG, connecting via parallel port to a metal dance pad. (Parallel is way better for this purpose) Tex-Murph fucked around with this message at Apr 21, 2011 around 20:37 |
| # ? Apr 21, 2011 20:28 |
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USB2 to video adapters are actual low-end video card chips with a USB interface. They work well for mostly-static images and that's about it. Your best bet is going to be a DVI -> HDMI pin adapter and a separate cable for audio. There is no perfect solution other than finding the elusive laptop with both native HDMI and a parallel port.
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| # ? Apr 21, 2011 20:35 |
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Tex-Murph posted:Hope I'm posting this in the right place.
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| # ? Apr 21, 2011 20:37 |
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Yikes. I forget if my TV accepts a separate audio signal in conjunction, I'll have to check tonight. Cross fingers!
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| # ? Apr 21, 2011 20:47 |
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asking for a recommendation for a friend, he's looking to get a new laptop for about £5-700 or so. it doesn't need to be a powerhouse graphics-wise (he's not a PC gamer). basically looking for something that will last.
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| # ? Apr 21, 2011 22:24 |
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Alligator posted:asking for a recommendation for a friend, he's looking to get a new laptop for about £5-700 or so. it doesn't need to be a powerhouse graphics-wise (he's not a PC gamer). Thinkpads will last until the heat death of the universe. (I'm talking the "real" ones, not the Edge series. They're OK, but not as great.)
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| # ? Apr 21, 2011 22:38 |
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So is there a reason why laptop/tablet hybrids didn't really take off? Are they limited in some way or is the extra 2-600$ for a tablet convertible version the main reason why they aren't popular?
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| # ? Apr 21, 2011 23:50 |
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Desktop OSes and tablet OSes have fundamentally different needs in taking and dealing with user input. Laptop computers are just desktops with batteries, as far as the OS is concerned - it still is primarily managed with a keyboard and mouse and has a relatively high-resolution display for primarily desktop-like tasks. Dedicated tablets, on the other hand, have to be controlled primarily with the much less precise movements of fingertips on glass, and so must have larger controls and a greater sense of being like something we are used to touching, rather than having a layer of abstracted interaction via a mouse and keyboard. They really don't work together. In order for each platform to play to its strengths, you essentially need two platforms. This can be a shell over a desktop OS or a second set of physical hardware in the same device or some compromise, but generally you won't get anything that performs just as well as a separate tablet and laptop that isn't literally a separate tablet and laptop that share a case. Not without serious compromises to either form-factor's usefulness, anyway. To get the right experience, the cost is very high, and it will only be adopted by people who definitely want both whatever sort of laptop it is and whatever sort of tablet it is. This means there is less of a software ecosystem available for the device to differentiate it from competitors, and so less of a point to get such a device at all.
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| # ? Apr 22, 2011 00:25 |
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I could use some help with picking out a new notebook. I want something with a good 14-15" screen, good video playback quality, good/excellent build quality, and preferably a good extended warranty and some gaming potential. My budget is $1100, which is not coincidentally the expected amount of my tax return. I'm a bit out of date on hardware, but I've been trying to figure out what's good these days from this forum and anandtech reviews. From what I've read all the manufacturers use crappy, low-cost panels for their basic screens so I'll definitely order something with an upgraded resolution. One thing that caught my eye is the Sager 5160, which I could order with a Full HD screen and a 3 year warranty for $1049, but I'm not familiar with the manufacturer and while I really like the way it looks I have no idea of the quality of its materials or construction. I've read here Lenovos are really high quality, but the basic screens are subpar and the upgraded ones are only 1600x900, except for the laughable $250 upgrade for the full HD screen on the 15"; also they only have integrated graphics on the T420 and T520 which means gaming will suck and video quality may suffer. I read the recent anandtech review of the XPS 15 and it looks good except I don't like the idea of the inspiron-esque build quality, low-midrange graphics card options, the general look of the thing or the fact that a 3 year warranty costs an extra $200. I could really use some goon expertise here, especially figuring out what kind of graphics processing is necessary for getting good video playback on an upgraded screen (is integrated graphics enough? does Optimus make nVidia the only game in town? etc). The other confusing thing is which wireless network selection to make - Lenovo has 6 different options for christ's sake.
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| # ? Apr 22, 2011 01:11 |
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Sandy Bridge integrated graphics are quite fine, ending the era of Intel integrated graphics being a joke. I just finished Portal 2 on high detail, 720p @ 50 FPS. Obviously, if gaming is a big part of what you're doing, you'll want more oomph, in which case the Sager is your best bet. A lot of folks in the thread have sprung for their laptops, and as long as they were ordered through a reseller with good support (like xoticpc.com), experiences have been generally pretty good. Another option might be to track down a 1920x1080 model of the Asus G53SW. The Dell XPS 15 would have the nicest screen, but not quite enough graphics oomph to push it at native resolution with modern games. But for video? Literally anything will do as long as it's current gen; you could get a $400 budget notebook or netbook that uses an AMD E350 processor and it would rock the hell out of hardware-acceleration-capable HD video, indistinguishably from more powerful hardware given the same screen. For warranty and build quality, you won't beat a Thinkpad, but they're not gaming machines; they're workhorse notebooks. As for AMD vs. nVidia, nVidia chips are much more common, so it may seem like they're the only thing going, but that doesn't mean an AMD chip isn't worthwhile if you find it. For wireless, if you don't want to think about it, just get something with 802.11n and it doesn't matter what. If you live in an apartment complex with lots of wifi-using neighbors and/or need to stream HD video or use Intel Wireless Display or something, get a wifi card with a 5 GHz band antenna (to match with your 5 GHz-capable router/access point), since that is a much less crowded area of the spectrum and supports higher speeds. This is usually referred to as dual-antenna. If it supports 802.11a as well as 802.11n, it's got a 5 GHz antenna. Factory Factory fucked around with this message at Apr 22, 2011 around 01:52 |
| # ? Apr 22, 2011 01:50 |
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Filthy Hans posted:I could use some help with picking out a new notebook. I want something with a good 14-15" screen, good video playback quality, good/excellent build quality, and preferably a good extended warranty and some gaming potential. My budget is $1100, which is not coincidentally the expected amount of my tax return. I bought the Sager 5160 about 3 weeks ago. The build quality on mine is solid. The case does have a small amount of give but its fairly thick plastic. The integrated graphics will handle most things without a problem and if you need a little more you have the 540M. My only regret is this machine is a little to much for me and I might have been better off with a thinkpad(only because I'm not much of a gamer). On the other hand the 5160 price is insane for what you get. I bought mine from Pctorque only because they guaranteed a much faster turnaround time then Xotic. Sager is also supposedly releasing a revision to the 5160 soon that has a 545M I believe? Here is what I bought: Sager 5160 Ultimate Custom Laptop Gaming Notebook Computer (Built on Clevo W150HN) Qty: 1 15.6" Super Clear Glossy FULL HD (1920X1080) LED Ultra Bright Wide Screen LCD Qty: 1 30 Day No Questions Asked Money Back Guarantee! (Others only give you 15 days) Qty: 1 nVidia GT 540M 1024MB PCI-Expre Graphics/Video Card- GDDR3 DX11 with Optimus™ Technology Qty: 1 Intel® Core™ i7-2630QM 2nd Gen. (2.9GHz, 45W) w/6M L3 Cache - 4 Cores - 8 Threads Qty: 1 IC Diamond Premium Thermal Compound - CPU + GPU Qty: 1 8GB (8192MB) DDR3 1333MHz SDRAM (4gb + 4gb) Qty: 1 80GB Intel X25-M Gen2 Solid State Hard Drive "SSD" Serial-ATA II(Lasts 1.2 million hours!) Qty: 1 8X DVD±R / RW / 4X +Super Dual Layer Combo Drive with Software Qty: 1 320GB 7200RPM (Serial-ATA II 300 - 16MB Cache) in Optical Bay Qty: 1 No External USB Optical Drive Qty: 1 Integrated-Built In Fingerprint Reader (Free!) Qty: 1 Enhanced High Definition 3D Audio Sound System with S/P DIF Digital Output - SB Compatible Qty: 1 4-in-1 Memory Card Reader (MS/MSPRO/SD/MMC) Qty: 1 Integrated 2.0 Megapixel Digital Video Camera (Built In Webcam!) Qty: 1 Integrated Built in 10/1000 Fast Ethernet / LAN Network Card Qty: 1 Integrated Built in 802.11 B/G/N Wi-Fi Card + Bluetooth Qty: 1 Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit Installed (64 and 32 bit CD included with drivers) Qty: 1 STANDARD SMART BATTERY PACK (6 CELLS) - 62.16Wh Qty: 1 Standard Full Range AC Adapter with Power Cord Qty: 1 No Carrying Case Qty: 1 Microsoft Office Ready with FREE 60-Day Trial! Qty: 1 Sager 3 Year Labor, 1 Yr Parts Warranty (Labor Yrs 2+3 paid by PCT) (w/ 2 Way Shipping!) Qty: 1 (No Accidental Protection Policy) Qty: 1
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| # ? Apr 22, 2011 04:25 |
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Thanks for the quick replies, I'll mull over the decision while I wait for my tax return.
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| # ? Apr 22, 2011 15:33 |
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How is the Quadro 2000M for gaming?
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| # ? Apr 22, 2011 15:49 |
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Pretty decent. It's roughly the same hardware as the GTX 460M, but its drivers are optimized for accuracy rather than speed, so it performs a bit under in game benchmarks.
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| # ? Apr 22, 2011 17:22 |
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My Samsung series 9 arrived today and I am super pumped. The boot time on the thing is amazing and it's nice to finally have something that gets well over my old laptop's 50 minute battery life. It's super light so I'm gonna be so happy to carry this thing with me to and from campus as opposed to the old heavy beast. Yeah, it's expensive, but it feels worth it. The entire thing does not feel cheap. Though, it does have sorta a mac clone aura around it. The backlit chicklet keyboard and the power cable with the interchangeable plug. So far the only thing that I don't like about it is how easy it is to leave thumb prints and smudges on the metal around the trackpad and keyboard. Also, I guess I could bitch about the fact that I have no choice but it get it with Windows loaded, but that seems nitpicky. Wiped the harddrive and loading Ubuntu on it right now.
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| # ? Apr 22, 2011 19:56 |
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Philosopher King posted:So is there a reason why laptop/tablet hybrids didn't really take off? Are they limited in some way or is the extra 2-600$ for a tablet convertible version the main reason why they aren't popular? Take what Factory Factory said and add in a few more things: Laptops are too heavy to hold in the position one would use for writing. They're commonly too hot to hold and the battery life is just now getting to a useful point. I'm super-excited about a new product from Asus that should be showing up stateside pretty soon: http://www.asus.com/Eee/Eee_Note/Eee_Note_EA800/ My only complaint is that it uses Evernote instead of OneNote, but I can understand why.
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| # ? Apr 22, 2011 22:58 |
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Kynetx posted:http://www.asus.com/Eee/Eee_Note/Eee_Note_EA800/ That makes me sad that I just bought a Nook.
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| # ? Apr 23, 2011 01:38 |
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Factory Factory posted:Desktop OSes and tablet OSes have fundamentally different needs in taking and dealing with user input... And other stuffs. This is true. Where convertibles fail is that the UI is unchanged under it's physical form as a tablet. There should be an immediate transition to a more tablet friendly UI once you swing the lcd over. I think the only reason why Apple didn't make a MBP convertible that mutated from OSX to ipad UI under tablet form is because they wanted you to buy both separately. Or they haven't thought of it yet. Thelonious Drunk fucked around with this message at Apr 23, 2011 around 08:41 |
| # ? Apr 23, 2011 08:19 |
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duh.
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| # ? Apr 23, 2011 08:22 |
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Oxytocin posted:I think the only reason why Apple didn't make a MBP convertible that mutated from OSX to ipad UI under tablet form is because they wanted you to buy both separately. Or they haven't thought of it yet. Or maybe because the iPad has a very slow, low-power ARM processor in the interest of low power consumption and light weight (really important for something you're supposed to hold in one hand while you use), while Macbooks have big fat x86 CPUs and cooling hardware, big fat batteries to run them, keyboards, and all sorts of other things that make them much better all-purpose machines at the cost of weight and volume.
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| # ? Apr 23, 2011 15:49 |
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A tablet that weighs 5 pounds makes perfect sense. Apple should get right on that.
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| # ? Apr 23, 2011 16:12 |
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It's called Macbook Air with a loving hinge.
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| # ? Apr 23, 2011 16:36 |
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My 5-year-old laptop battery no longer holds a charge so I'm looking to get it replaced. Should I just stick to another one from the manufacturer or will I get better quality/life/price/etc. by going third party? It's a Dell XPS M1210 for what it is worth.
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| # ? Apr 23, 2011 19:31 |
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Oxytocin posted:It's called Macbook Air with a loving hinge. An MBA 11" gets half the runtime with a significantly larger battery, and weighs a pound more than an iPad. It's also quite a bit thicker, although weight is a much larger concern than thickness. And that's all before you factor in the convertible hinge, which is a fairly major piece of hardware with its own weight, bulk, and complexity issues. Oh, and there's cost, too. One of the iPad's biggest selling points - and costs - is its IPS display. TN in a tablet doesn't really work, because tablets are designed to use a wide range of viewing angles. Laptops (including the entire Macbook lineup) almost always use TN panels, because the viewing angle doesn't matter so much when the computer's sitting on a desk and you can adjust the display hinge. I wouldn't be surprised if Apple tries to make the iPad more of a general-purpose computer. Probably half of the computer-using population would be happy with an iPad and a Bluetooth keyboard; it handles funny cat youtubes, facebook, netflix, and email just fine. However, going the other direction isn't going to work so well. Plenty of people have tried convertible x86 laptop/tablets, and they never really caught on outside of some specialty fields. Part of the reason behind the iPad's success is that it ditched all the legacy crap people had tried before, and went straight to a custom OS on ARM rather than Windows or OSX on top of a grossly overpowered x86 CPU.
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| # ? Apr 23, 2011 19:31 |
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| # ? May 21, 2013 08:49 |
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Walldo posted:My 5-year-old laptop battery no longer holds a charge so I'm looking to get it replaced. Should I just stick to another one from the manufacturer or will I get better quality/life/price/etc. by going third party? It's a Dell XPS M1210 for what it is worth. Third-party batteries will be cheaper and may work just as well, but you have to look out for two things: 1) OEMs can and do fiddle with the ACPI identify information and run the laptop in low-power mode if a third party power accessories are used, with Apple and (recently) Dell being known practitioners, though Dell more with AC adapters. 2) Third party batteries may come from Knockoffville, China and might have quality control on the wrong side of "criminal negligence". Google around to find other people with the same laptop model who have had good luck with specific third-party power accessories before you commit to buy. If you find 'em, go for it.
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| # ? Apr 23, 2011 19:37 |
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